Fullmetal Alchemist and the Crystal of Chaos
by Shiko densetsu
Summary: Ed and Al go to a new town expecting to find a state alchemist who'll help them in their serach for the philosipher's stone, but when they meet his daughter with a mysterious neckalce, and what could possible ANOTHER deadly sin, things start to heat up.
1. Chapter 1

"Ed! Slow Down!" Al yelled chasing his older brother into a small restaurant. They both sat down at the counter. They got the same strange looks as usual, but they were used to that.

"So this is Tengoku…" Ed muttered looking around. It was an odd town, desert on one side, yet a forest on the other, truly amazing, and completely run down. Half of the houses were nothing but rubble, and the other half could do with a paintjob.

"Ed, are you sure that Mr. Shigawa's here? It doesn't seem like a Alchemist like that would be in a place like this…"

"I don't know Al; we'll have to find out."

"Find out what?" asked a boy around Ed's age, 15. He was tall, well, taller than Ed, with short brown hair and a dirty brown cloak over his navy blue outfit.

"I don't believe I was talking to you." Ed said rather annoyed.

"Sorry, shrimp."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!" Ed yelled as Al held him back.

"WHY I OUGHTTA KICK YOU SO HARD THAT-"

His rant was interrupted by a giggle from a fairly pretty girl, 15 as well. She had long jet black hair and outfit just as dark. It consisted of a short black skirt and tank top that didn't reach farther than her belly button; all this however was covered by a black cloak a lot like Ed's. "Please forgive him. He's just like that. He didn't mean anything by it, honest."

"Cierra, don't-I could've taken him…. "

"Kai, do you know who that is?"

"Who, him? No? Should I?"

"Let's examine this, he's 15, traveling with a suit of armor, carrying a state alchemist watch….he _can't _be anyone else but Edward Elric, am I right."

"I've gotta hand it to you, you know your alchemists." Ed said less eager to punch the guy's face in than before. They were now walking out of the diner and down the road, although to where, they weren't entirely sure.

"Thanks." She said with a smile. "So, what brings you to Tengoku?"

"I'm looking for a State Alchemist named Kioku Shigawa." The instant Ed said that name the girls face got Dark as she lowered her head and turned away.

"Get out…" Kai mumbled with the same lowered dark face, although still facing Ed with Clenched fists.

"I don't-"

"GET OUT NOW!" He yelled looking up at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you! I didn't even say anything!" Ed yelled back, more than slightly confused.

The girl took off running the other way.

"Cierra, wait-" Kai started, but stayed to talk with Ed. "Who the hell do you militarians think you are? First, you barge in here, torch her house, and with it her entire family, then, you have the nerve a year later to show up here again, this time, asking for someone you killed!"

"What?" Al was trying so hard to follow what he was saying, but it didn't make any sense.

"You won't find Kioku Shigawa here. Cierra **Shigawa**'s father was killed a year ago, along with the rest of her family, she's only one left." He said quietly as he walked away.

Cierra sat at her window, looking down at the two foreigners. Her fingers played with the necklace around her neck as sighed at Kai yelling at them, it wasn't their fault. She took off the necklace and placed it on her desk. It was a beautiful piece of work, her father's work actually. It was barely bigger than a marble, but it was covered in transmutation circles and glowed magnificently. Cierra sighed, as she turned her attention to the book in front of her. She had been working on translating her father's journals into English seeing as they were in a language with no key or way to figure out, and eternity code, if you will, but Cierra had known the key for as long as she could read or write.

It was mostly boring stuff, e mc squared, nothing extraordinary, except for the last 2 books. They were intense to read. It was all about human transmutation, souls, the physical makeup and more complicated things like that. Both books were filled with equations and formulas, and the finished product…was hanging around his daughter's neck.

Cierra closed the book as she check to see if they had left. However, the short alchemist and his giant brother were both sitting on the curb wondering what to do. She at least had to tell them that her father wasn't coming to meet them anytime soon. She snatched the necklace off the desk and latched it around her neck once again. She tucked it into her shirt as she ran out to meet them.

"Cierra, was it?" Ed said before she could say anything. After she nodded Ed continued. "Listen, I'm sorry about your father, I had no idea…"

"It's fine, how could you have known, it's not like you're the one who did it." She shrugged; her voice was quaky, like she could burst out in tears any second, though she didn't. "It gets pretty cold after dark, maybe you should stay with me, but just for tonight." She added on quickly at the end to make sure it was a one time only thing, at least until they could get on a train the next day.

"Really? That'd be great!" Al said standing up.

"Head's up!" A boy yelled as a massive dog ran right passed them.

"Tsutchi!" Cierra yelled as vine that seemed to come out of her hand wrapped itself around the dog and brought him back to her, just after that, the vine disappeared. "Here ya go." She smiled as she handed the boy the leash.

"Thanks, Cierra." He said as he walked off with the dog.

"Wow! How'd you do that!" Al asked, amazed.

"By the looks of it, you condensed the element into another form and used a transmutation circle to call it out at will, it disappeared just now because ti went back to its original form, right?" Ed said pulling her hands out from her sleeves to reveal the circles, if there were any.

"Nice try." She said, smiling yet again walking back to the house.

"But then-"

"It's a secret." She winked holding the door open as the two went in, Ed arguing the whole way.

"Tell me!"

"Nuh uh. "

"Damnit! I'll kill you!"

"Well, then you'll never know, will you?" She teased showing them their room and getting them set up, she was still arguing with Ed until he finally fell sleep and she did too.


	2. Chapter 2

"So, when did her die?" Ed asked, joining Cierra on the roof as the sun came up.

"Last year…" Her answers were blunt and to the point, it was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it, but Ed continued despite that.

"How?"

"A bunch of people from the military came into town burning a bunch of houses, but they were really only after him, he refused to give them his research so he was considered 'a liability' or so that's what he told me. Our entire house was set on fire with a single snap of this guy's finger."

Ed could hardly contain his anger, he knew who had done it now, there was no doubt in his mind, Mustang was the only person he knew who could do something like that. "How did you get out?"

"I was in Dad's research area cleaning up, he went home ahead of me, I arrived just in time to watch it all, but Kai swore to them that I was his sister and not related to the Shigawas so….here I am. " She said looking at her feet as she hugged her legs.

"Wait, his research area? So, his research, you still have it?" Ed said with a hope in his heart.

"Yeah...Why do you want it so badly anyway?"

"I made a mistake that cost my brother- a lot. I think that your father's research can help us find the philosopher's stone, so I can give my brother back what he lost."

"Oh, so it's not what I thought at all. I thought that the military sent you to retrieve it. Well, if your stories true, I don't see why I shouldn't let you see it. I have most fo the books translated into English." Cierra stood up as the wind blew her cloak back and forth. "You promise that it's for your brother….don't you?"

"I promise." He said seriously before he stood up and followed her to her study and took the 5 enormous translated books.

Ed read for five or six hours straight, writing things down in a notepad as Cierra and Al played about a hundred games of go-fish, Cierra won every time. "Ed, come on, take a break. It won't kill you, and I promise, they'll be there when you get back." She laughed prying the book from his hand. "Let's at least get something to eat." She begged with a puppy dog face as he stood up in compliance. She squealed with happiness. She turned back to Al, she had forgotten that he couldn't eat. Well, she shouldn't have known at all, but during on of the games she got mad and hit his head, which caused the helmet to fall off, although she was freaked out then, after a brief explanation she was cool with it. "Al, you can come, you don't have to-"

"No, no." Al said shaking his hands. "It's perfectly alright, you guys go on ahead, I'll try and perfect my strategy." He said pushing them out the door.

She smiled. "Alright Al, we won't be long." She waved to Al as her and Ed walked down the street. "You know, I guess I had state alchemists all wrong…I always thought of them to be theses mindless drones that do whatever their higher officer tells them to do, but you're not like that at all."

"Don't be fooled, I'm not like most of the other state alchemists." Ed said holding the door open for Cierra as they walked back into the same diner as the day before.

"I thought you would be going home…." Said the annoyed Kai, glaring at Ed as he brought them both water, apparently he worked there.

"I thought you'd look better in the dark." Ed shot back.

"Maybe I do, how can you tell, your head doesn't even reach my waist." Kai sneered wiping the table next to theirs.

"WHY YOU SON OF A-"

"Enough!" Cierra yelled pushing Ed back into his seat. "Both of you….don't make me give you a time out." She said laughing halfway through her statement. "Kai, ease up on Ed, He's not a bad guy., and your temper." She said shaking her head.

"Is there an Edward Elric here?" asked the manager of the diner from out of the back room.

"That's me." Ed said confused as he stood up.

"You've got a phone call."

Ed rushed over and took the phone. "Hello, Edward Elric." He answered only to hear the infamous Roy Mustang.

"Fullmetal, I've yet to hear news of your exploits."

"Oh, don't you worry about a thing Colonel Pyro," Ed said saluting him, though he could see it from his office in central. "Seeing as you'll find out anyway, I'm doing research in a town called Tengoku. A girl named Cierra Shigawa is helping me do some more research on the stone. You know it's actually very interesting….."

Ed continued on but he didn't hear anything else after the word 'Shigawa' "So, there is another one." He mumbled. He covered the phone and yelled, "Fury, Breda, Havoc, Hawkeye, pack your bags, we're leaving tonight!" He said before turning back to Ed who had been yelling 'another one of what' for the past minute over and over again. "nothing, thanks for your report, I'll check in with you tomorrow." And he hung up.

"What was that about?"

"I don't really know, my Colonel had some desire to check up on me…"

"Ok" Cierra shrugged, not thinking much of it,. The rest of the night was pretty quiet, except when Ed got to the part in the last book, where it started explaining Cierra's necklace, which, in turn, explained the vine the previous day which made him extremely happy that he knew what she had done, and even though he didn't yell, or brag, the smirk on his face said it all.

That morning they were awoken very abruptly as their door was knocked down and footsteps could be heard throughout the house and Kai was heard screaming his lungs out. "Leave her alone! She didn't do anything!"

"What's going on?" Ed asked, meeting Cierra and Al in the hallway.

"I dunno…"

"Cierra Shigawa? I have orders from Fuhrer Bradley to take you into custody and bring you back to Central." said the same man who torched her house a year ago, and the same man who called Ed the day before, Colonel Roy Mustang.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ed yelled at Mustang. He would have hit him in the face, but Al held him back once again. By this time Cierra had let Fury handcuff her and led her down the stairs. Havoc walked out the study with the five books and carried them off, despite Ed trying to grab them away from him.

"What the Hell is this!" He yelled pushing Al off of him. "What did she do?"

"That is not of your concern fullmetal." He said walking out of the house.

Ed's heart sank as he saw her being put into the back of truck with bars on them like she was a criminal. A tear ran down her cheek. "You promised…" She sniffed as she ducked her head out of his view shaking her head.

"She doesn't deserve that! She's not some criminal! What right do you have to do that to her without anything reason!"

"What right do you have to meddle in things you know nothing about.. I advise you to drop it Ed, for both of your sakes." Mustang said getting into the car.

"Sorry I can't comply." Ed sneered. "Al, pack our stuff, we're taking the next train to central, "


	3. Chapter 3

"Where is she!" Ed yelled storming into the colonel's office.

"Didn't expect to see you back so soon." Mustang commented, smugly avoiding looking up at Ed from his paperwork.

"Don't avoid my question Damnit." Ed yelled, slamming his hands down on the desk. "You brought Cierra here." He reminded him angrily. "arrested her for no reason? Ring a bell?"

"Ed, don't come in here and scold me unless you have all the facts!" Roy said loudly, standing up, trying to keep his cool. After he took a breath to control himself he looked up at Ed. "Cierra Shigawa is not under arrest, she's simply here to help us out. She's in the Kanko Hotel across the street." Mustang said, not looking at Ed.

Although Ed wanted to say so much more, he figured that explaining everything to Cierra was more important. He nodded and opened the door.

"Ed," Mustang said, holding Ed up at the door. "be careful. You don't know what you're getting into."

Ed look at him, puzzled for a moment before running off to Cierra's room. After getting the room number from the guy behind the desk and making his way up 5 flights of stairs, Ed didn't even get to knock on her door. As Ed reached for the door it opened, there stood Cierra, in a jacket and with a small bag on her shoulder she walked right passed him, like he wasn't there.

"Oh come on! You can't think even for a second that wanted any of that to happen!" He called.

"Then why did you let it?" Cierra shot back coldly staring through him.

"You don't understand, there were other things involved. I had orders, there were things I need to know, I didn't think-"

"That's right, Ed. You didn't think." She walked down the stairs but was stopped in the street by Ed's hand on her wrist. "Let me go Ed."

"Not until you hear me out."

Cierra sighed ash she turned around to listen to him. "Fine."

"I was given very strict order from an extremely high ranked officer to 'Notify Colonel Mustang' of everyone I met in that town. Not only that, but I was also told to deliver to them all of your books and belongings as soon as I knew the whereabouts and take them straight to central, and bring you with me, even if by force. The colonel has always been one to send spies, to keep tabs on me, to watch my back." Ed started.

"So, why should I care about any of that. I didn't take you as a trained dog."

"heh, you didn't let me finish. If I were to have it my way, I wouldn't have told Mustang anything, but, when I got the phone call in the diner I realized something. The same man who was sitting behind me on the train here had been everywhere I had been since Me and Al arrived. I was being followed. If I had told Mustang that I met no one the word would have gotten right back to him that I lied, and I couldn't very well help you from central, so I told Mustang where you were, knowing what it entailed, although, I will say that I'm sorry about how they treated you."

Cierra smiled slightly, Ed had a reason for doing what he did, maybe he wasn't a hopeless jerk.

"Then when they came to arrest you, I knew what I had to do, I piled your books together so that they could take them easier." Ed smiled at Cierra's puzzled face. "I didn't pile all of them, I hid the last two, not to mention all of the non translated one. By having the stack of books, they thought that that was all of them." Ed said handing her a pile of books which she stuck into her bag. "I grabbed them after you were taken away. So, do you still hate me?"

Cierra shook her head; he had had a plan the whole time, who'd have thought it. She began walking again. "I was issued an order to see Colonel Mustang." She explain in regards to where she was going.

"What does he want…" Ed mumbled. "I'm going with you." Ed said. Mustang's warning still stuck in the back of his mind, maybe if he went, he'd get an understanding of what he meant by it.

"Fullmetal."

"Colonel."

"Ah, Miss Shinoko, how nice to finally meet you." Mustang said offering a hand to shake, though Cierra sat down quietly instead, folding her arms and waiting for him to begin. "Someone doesn't waste time." Mustang muttered under his breath. "Alright, I'm going to make this as blunt as possible, those books that you have, we need them, and we need you to translate their meaning. We are willing to give you any amount of money in exchange for-"

"No."

Mustang sat down, resting his elbows on the desk and folding his hands, looking over the top of them to meet her eyes. "If money's not what you want then tell me what is. Something can be arranged."

"Nothing. That's just it, I want **nothing **to do with you or your military for that matter. I'm sorry that my father didn't leaves the books to you, but maybe he would have if you didn't murder him." She said angrily, storming out of the room.

"Cierra!" Ed called following after her.

"I'm sorry Ed, you're probably going to get in trouble with him now, it's just-"

"It's ok, I never liked him anyway, too cocky." Ed chuckled as it started to rain. "great."

Cierra giggled as she unnoticeable took a wrong turn into an alley due to the rain. When she noticed she tried to turn around but slipped on the wet pavement, "Kaze!" the wind caught her fall, but as soon she was upright again she collapsed onto the ground.

"Cierra!" Ed yelled, catching her head right before it crashed into the cement. "What was that?"

Cierra put her hand on her head and sat up. "Sorry, when I use alchemy too many times I just get a little exhausted, I'm still a rookie." She laughed, standing up, but not before coughing up a bit of blood onto her hand, she quickly let the rain wash it off behind her back, careful not to let Ed notice it.

"Cierra," Ed started, dead seriously. "On the train here, I finished reading your books."

Really? How did you like-"

"That alchemy you use, it's pretty amazing stuff." He said, narrow eyed. "But in order to exert the force to let it come out of any part of your body, or to keep it condensed or heighten the attack, the total amount would be limited…unless-"

"Ed, what are you babbling abo-"

"You were using human transmutation. It's not major, like bring a human back to life, but the way that necklace works, it transfers your physical energy, your health, into kinetic energy to allow it to do all of its functions. It's slowly draining you of yourself…Cierra, why would do-"

"Ed, it's none of your business why I do what I do. Using alchemy is easier than doing things by hand. You of all people should know that." Cierra said nervously and with a wavering voice.

"My alchemy is different it-" Ed was interrupted by a fit of coughing on Cierra's part, she would have fallen over if Ed hadn't caught her.

"Human transmutation isn't something that anyone should be messing around with…"

_Tell him already. I'm sure he'll listen. I bet he can help, what are you waiting for? It's not like he's going freak out or anything, it's only a forbidden-_

"Shut up." Cierra mumbled to herself, still resting in Ed's arms.

_Please, screaming wont do anything. Except make him think you're insane. He'll help you right? You saw it, so why are you fighting it? Why are you fighting help?_

"It's not me it's you he'll help…" She said angrily to herself, holding her head now as Ed watched, totally clueless.

_He'll get me out. Isn't that what you want? To be free…of me?_

"Not this way." She said, almost to the point of yelling.

_Aww, you're no fun. Fine, if you won't ask him, I will. _

That instant Cierra started screaming in pain, all the while holding her head, crying desperately for something to just go away. The bottom of her shirt started burning away and soon an entire alchemic circle had burnt it's way through her skin and shirt.

"What the-" Ed had never seen anything like it, but some of symbols he recognized from sketches along the margins in the last book. "Cierra! Cierra, hold on." He yelled.

Cierra ripped the necklace off of her neck and handed it to Ed, collapsing once again in his arms, this time, utterly unconscious. Ed pocketed the necklace and carried her back to her room, trying to put together what had happened just now.

Cierra remanded asleep in her bed for almost 6 hours, though Ed never left once. Instead he spent his time looking up the strange circle he had seen on her stomach.

"You're up, how are you feeling?"

"Tired. What happened? " She asked, sitting up.

"You passed out." He said, throwing back her necklace.

"Oh, sorry about that….you must think I'm crazy…"

"Nah, A little weird, but certainly not crazy….so I looked up that symbol of your stomach."

"Oh that, it's just some silly old tattoo I got when-"

"It's used for calling out a homunculus from inside of a body…"

"Oh. THAT symbol….hehe"


End file.
